title: E-cadherin expression: a diagnostic utility for differentiating breast carcinomas with ductal and lobular morphologies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of the E-Cadherin (EC) expression in differentiating between an infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) and an infiltrating lobular carcinoma (ILC), the two most common forms of invasive breast carcinomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors evaluated the E-Cadherin expression by doing immunohistochemistical studies of all the cases of invasive lobular carcinomas (ILC) which were diagnosed in the pathology laboratory during a 3 year period and they compared the expression of E-Cadherin in an equal number of invasive ductal carcinomas (IDC) of the breast.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A moderate to strong inter-membranous E-Cadherin expression on immunohistochemistry was seen in all the cases of IDC, while only 1 case of ILC showed a moderate E-Cadherin expression. Hence, the E-cadherin expression can be reliably used as a marker to differentiate IDC and ILC. However, an aberrant cytoplasmic expression of E-Cadherin may be seen in some cases of ILC, which should be interpreted with caution.
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Pathology, KMC International Center , India .
authors.forename: Kanthilatha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pai
authors.forename: Poornima
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baliga
authors.forename: Bishwo Lal
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Shrestha
keywords: Breast carcinoma; E-Cadherin